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Abstract

AAPG Bulletin, V. 106, No. 6 (June 2022), P. 1183-1195.

Copyright ©2022. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1306/eg.01072120006

Geophysical characterization of a leachate plume from a former municipal solid waste disposal site: A case study on Norman landfill

Md. Iftekhar Alam,1 Andrew Katumwehe,2 and Estella Atekwana3

1Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee; [email protected]
2Kimble School of Geosciences, Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, Texas; [email protected]
3College of Letters and Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, California; [email protected]

Abstract

Landfill leachate plumes have been and continue to be one of the major environmental concerns because of their ability to contaminate shallow ground water aquifers. Leachate plumes transport toxic materials, which are hazardous to groundwater resources. The Norman landfill research site is a closed municipal solid waste landfill, formerly operated by the city of Norman, Oklahoma. This study was conducted to locate the extent of the Norman landfill leachate plume, which has been influenced by dispersion and attenuation since its closing. We applied electrical resistivity and electromagnetic (EM) 34 methods, and constrained the results with geochemical data to image the extent of the plume. Total dissolved solids (TDS) data were integrated, which were estimated from groundwater samples previously collected from wells drilled by the US Geological Survey. Results from EM 34, resistivity, and TDS suggest a highly conductive zone in the study area extending over 200 m. We suggest that the presence of this conductive zone in the subsurface was caused by the higher concentration of contaminants from the leachate. Therefore, by integrating the results from geophysical and geochemical analysis, the leachate plume is characterized along the central part of our survey lines covering ∼200 m, and at a depth of ∼2 m. The study suggests that an integrated geophysical approach using various tools can be successfully applied with water chemistry to locate the boundaries of an ionic leachate plume.

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